In her first training session back on-site at a tournament after injury put an end to her Australian Open, Francesca Jones found herself in an unusual, delightful situation. Her training partner across the net was none other than Venus Williams, the most successful active female tennis player.

Being able to train with such a legendary player was a dream itself, but as of Thursday afternoon Jones can now say that she has also defeated one of the great legends of the game as she closed out a 7-5, 7-5 win over the 45-year-old seven-time grand slam champion in the first round of the Miami Open. The victory marks Jones’s first WTA 1000 match win in her career, breaking a four-match losing streak.

This was an intense battle that Williams, a three-time Miami Open champion between 1998 and 2001, could have won. It took two tight, frantic sets for Jones to find a way through. The 25-year-old showed her mental toughness by recovering to win the final three games of both sets after trailing 4-5 on serve each time. Jones’s victory has afforded her a match-up with one of the best and most in-form hard-court players in the world as she faces the fifth seed, Jessica Pegula, in the second round.

After her difficult start to the season, this is a helpful win for Jones, whose body remains her greatest rival on the court.

She began the 2026 season attempting to follow up the best year of her career as she broke into the top 70 with great performances at WTA 250 and WTA 125 level.

It is impossible to tell Jones’s story without mentioning her genetic condition, ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia, which means she has three fingers and a thumb on each hand and a total of seven toes. Her young career has been ravaged by countless injuries that have kept her off the tour for significant periods and forced her to retire from countless matches. Her success in 2025 was largely down to the physical gains she made off the court, but a tearful Jones had to retire from her first round match at the Australian Open. She will hope that a first win since January will be the start of a positive run of form.

After closing out her victory, Jones showered Williams with compliments while the pair embraced in a warm hug, an unusual sight for Williams with any opponent other than her sister, Serena. For Williams, this defeat was her eighth loss in nine matches since her return to competition last summer. The American won her first match back against the world No 35, Peyton Stearns, before losing the rest of her contests.

She has been competitive against quality players in almost every one of these affairs, but these results are a natural consequence of her age. Williams has repeatedly said that her motivation for continuing to compete lies in the fact that she is finally free of pain and able to enjoy playing tennis again after undergoing surgery in 2024 to address her uterine fibroids, which she has struggled with for 30 years.

Williams is one of the greatest tennis players of all time and another strong audience was present, demonstrating why she continues to receive wildcards into so many events. With the tour soon heading to Europe for the red clay season, it is unclear where Williams will next appear.

Elsewhere, the 17-year-old Frenchman Moïse Kouamé became the youngest male player to win a Masters 1000 match since Rafael Nadal as he overcame cramping to defeat Zachary Svajda 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 and reach the second round at the Miami Open.

Kouamé, a French wildcard who has received significant attention this year for his excellent performances on the lower level ATP Challenger and ITF circuits, was congratulated by none other than Novak Djokovic after his victory. “I have a small secret,” Kouamé said during an interview with Tennis Channel. “After the win, Novak texted me. I’m so nervous. I don’t know what to answer. I’m really so nervous. I don’t know if I’m going to answer.”